Edmonds has gone 2-16 with 1 BB and nothing else in four starts and one pinch-hitting appearance over nine games. Over the same span, remarkably also four starts and one pinch-hitting appearance, Reed Johnson is 5-18 with 2 BB, 5 R, 6 RBI, 2 2B, 1 HR. Is this enough sample size to make a determination on whether to keep him? Probably not. But the first two weeks of the Jim Edmonds Experiment have certainly shown the combination of Edmonds’ age and injuries make him look over-matched in the batter’s box, even falling down on one occasion.

It was a no risk signing, as long as you know when to pull the plug. Bottom line is unless he has a nice hot streak at the dish over the next two weeks, I think you’ll see him released/designated for assignment. The question will be will the Cubs let Johnson start everyday until the All-Star break and allow Micah Hoffpauir be the fourth outfielder, and then evaluate both Johnson and Hoffpauir’s offensive performance against the trade market as teams start dumping players. I think that’s the best choice the Cubs have right now.

I was watching the Cubs-Stroh’s game last night and noticed ESPN changed something about their game status bar that they present at the top of the screen. The new item was listing the hitter’s performance after certain counts. For example, after a first pitch strike, Soriano would be a .290 hitter with 2 HR and 10 RBI. After a couple more pitches, say, a 2-1 count, they would show Soriano is now a 7-11 with 6 HR and 18 RBI in 2-1 counts and beyond, for instance.

They listed AVG (or hits per AB under a certain number of ABs), HR and RBI, the old school triumvirate. Hopefully they’ll expand it to something more Saber-esque…say, AVG, OBP, and XBH (excluding RBI because RBI aren’t really interesting when doing count-based analysis…it’s too dependent on runners or RISP).

All in all a very progressive and enjoyable addition to the usually abused telecast game line.

I got my pet project up and running, the Boxscore Junkie website. Right now it’s simply a scoreboard, boxscore, play-by-play, and pitch-by-pitch site for the 2008 MLB season, but I am now to the point where I can work on the cool features like tracking pitch data and providing interesting real-time data during live feeds of the games.

Ping me if you have an idea for something to add to any portion of the site. I’m kind of winging it right now as there are many directions I could be taking this.

After dropping three series in a row, you had to figure meeting the Reds at great American Ballpark was going to be the cure for what ails the Cubs. Nothing could be further from the truth as the first inning was a bizarre indication of things to come. Two infield hits, a Fontenot error, and a bases-loaded walk set the tone. Dunn stared blankly as a juicy 3-2 fastball rang him up, but Keppinger blooped a 2-run single to dot the i and cross the t in this embarrassing start to the series.

Five unearned runs against Dusty and the five-game losing streak Reds. Sigh.

I’m kind of shocked. I’ve been a big fan of Hill because he’s got really good stuff coming from the left-hand side, something the Cubs haven’t had on a consistent basis since I can remember. He was home-grown, too. Alas, I also know the sheer frustration of watching a pitcher consistently cough up 4-5 walks per start. I was that guy in high school.

Pitching is a fickle bitch. The time you nibble on the corners is the time the hitters decide to work the count. Then when you decide to jump out to first pitch fastballs, the hitters decide to attack that first pitch. Or maybe it just feels that way as a result of times when you don’t have your best stuff and nothing you throw goes where you intend it (for better or worse).

I feel bad for Rich because it’s a tough situation, and all we can do is hope he can correct his mechanics in the minors and comeback to the bigs to stay later in the year.

It’s looking more and more like any post-season rotation is still Big Z, Lilly and some form of Hill/Dempster/Lieber. Not a trio to write home about … maybe we can swing something for Oakland’s Rich Harden when he’s back and proven himself healthy for the season.

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to post, but tonight I’m enjoying watching the game and wanted to keep a running commentary. Some interesting things have happened already and I was inspired to keep a log.

Rich Hill walked four of the first six hitters he faced and Sweet Lou wasted no time in giving him the hook. Lou wants to make sure the Cubs compete in the Central, no matter how early, and Hill’s control issues are well-documented. I’m not sure I’m happy with this decision because of the long-term effects on Hill and the bullpen, but I agree with Lou in that every divisional game matters, whether its May or September.

LaRussa is taking this series equally as serious. In the bottom of the 2nd , the Cards scored when Wainwright doubled to lead-off the inning and then Ryan singled him home, taking second on Pie’s ill-advised, airmail throw to Soto. With no one out, Tony La played small for his 3rd run of the game by having his leadoff man, Brian Barton, sac Ryan from second to third. Weurtz came through with a huge strikeout of Ankiel in a runner-on-3rd-and-less-than-2-out situation and Lou predictably put Pujols on 1st to setup Weurtz against the slightly less intimidating Glaus. What happened next can be viewed two different ways. Pujols took off for 2nd and stumbled prior to reaching the base. Soto threw to DeRosa covering, and Ryan took off for home. DeRosa had both runners in front of him (coming from his 2nd base position) and easily threw out Ryan at home. Given LaRussa’s earlier small ball play, I feel he put on the old Little League play where the runner on first gets caught in a rundown while the runner on third scores. The Barnum & Bailey defense the Cubs have played lately made this a decent spot to try such a simple run manufacturing technique.

I’m excited to watch this series just after these first few innings…should be competitive given the leadership of these two great managers and their desire to stake a claim to first place in Central early on in 2008.